


A Contract Is Just Equivalent Exchange

by Flikky



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Gen, Suicide mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 15:45:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3452837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flikky/pseuds/Flikky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fanfic prompt: FMA and Madoka, post-apocalypse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Contract Is Just Equivalent Exchange

It was all wrong.

It was all so wrong.

This wasn't the way things were supposed to be.

Kyubey had promised them the power to change the world. Had come to the brothers that dark and stormy night so long ago and granted them a wish in exchange for their promise to use the abilities it would give them to fight the evils of the world -- to fight the witches that brought pain and sorrow and destruction to innocent people and lives.

Two brothers, the oldest barely ten, desperate after having lost their mother. Edward could see it now, knew that it had all been deliberately planned out. Because they weren't the only ones, after all. A young soldier thrust into an ugly war, disgusted with himself and on the brink of suicide. The son of an old military family anxious at the thought that he might let them down. A mother devastated by the death of her infant son.

Kyubey had planned it all. Had sought out the desperate and longing and offered them a miracle. None of them could possibly have refused. And Kyubey had certainly granted each of their wishes, and in exchange had given them the ability it called "alchemy"; a seemingly magical skill that allowed them to change anything around them into something else. A necessary skill that they would need to fight the witches.

Witches, named for the seven deadly sins, who were so powerful as to be forces of nature. Witches who Kyubey warned that even alchemists as powerful as the Elric brothers might get lucky and be able to kill one or two, but should only really ever hope to fight them back.

Witches, who, Kyubey never told them until it was already too late, were created from the wishes it'd granted to bring people back to life.

Wrath, their mentor's dead child.

Lust, their rival alchemist's would-be sister-in-law.

Greed, the former lover of their father's ex-wife.

Envy, the half-brother they'd never known.

Sloth, Trisha Elric, the brothers' own mother, wished back to life so many years ago.

Edward had killed them all, had forced himself to. Through all of Alphonse's protests and worse, through all of Sloth's pleading. But he knew. He knew that their mother would rather have been dead than become a creature that caused such pain and devastation.

But what he hadn't known -- couldn't have known -- was that every witch killed was then absorbed by the one known as Gluttony. Each time a witch fell for once and for all to an alchemist, Gluttony consumed their remains, taking their power for his own, and becoming more powerful than any other witch before him. And by the time Edward had figured it out, it was too late to warn Mustang before he'd destroyed Pride.

With the death of the sixth witch, Gluttony was able to absorb all of their power and become a storm that none of them could ever hope to fight back or stop.

They still tried, though, with all of their might. The brothers rallied every alchemist in the country to fight alongside them and defeat this apocalyptic threat.

And it wasn't enough.

Edward sat in the midst of the ruins that had once been his country, trying to staunch the bleeding where his leg had once been. Everyone was gone. All of the innocent people they'd tried to protect, slaughtered over the course of a single night. What few alchemists had survived were badly mangled, and Edward wondered, gazing numbly at the bloody stain where he'd last seen his little brother, how they had ever thought they could defeat Gluttony.

Kyubey sauntered through the destruction, taking it all in, and hopped up onto a bit of wreckage near the survivors.

"This is quite impressive," it said, the sincerity in its tone seeming to mock them. "I really never expected any of you to survive after Gluttony absorbed all six other witches' powers. This is a real accomplishment."

Izumi gave a wordless cry of rage, digging up energy from some reserve to open up the concrete Kyubey was sitting on and crush it.

"I don't know what you're so upset about," its replacement told them, climbing up onto a crumbling fountain to their right. "You should be proud of yourselves. Obviously it's not just any alchemist who can withstand an onslaught like that. It just goes to show how truly powerful those of you left really are."

Mustang snapped his fingers and the Incubator was engulfed in flames.

"Your wounds will heal with time," Kyubey said from behind them. "But you really should get some rest. As far as I can tell, Gluttony is heading to the east, towards Xing. You'll need to be at top strength if you're going to try to stop it from destroying their country too."

Kyubey disappeared then with a swish of its fluffy tail.

Once it was gone, Edward looked around at the grim and horrified, but determined faces of his fellow alchemists and knew, with a lurch of his heart, that Kyubey was right.

It wasn't over yet, and wouldn't be until they were all dead.


End file.
